Gun



J. T. THOMPSON.

GU APPLICATION FILES MAY 20, 1920- 7 1,365,355. Patented Jan. 11, 192 1.

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Ky WW UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN TALIAFERRO THOMPSON, OF NEWPORT, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO THOMAS FORTUNE RYAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

GUN.

Application filed May 20, 1920. Serial No. 382,739.

T all whom it concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN TALIAFERRO THOMPSON, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Newport, in the county of Campbell and State of Kentucky,

. have invented new and useful Improvements in Guns, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a new and proved bearing particularly adapted to minimize the friction due to the translatory and. rotary movements of a breech closure for guns.

The breech closure of a gun undergoes movements and stresses which are peculiar to itself. In guns of the usual type the breech closure comprises a bolt which has a reciprocating translatory movement and at the end of the closing stroke a rotary movement either combined wlth further translatory movement or occurring at the end of such movement. The bolt closely fits the receiver or other part in which it operates and those movements cause .friction. In its forward movement the bolt car ries a'cartridge with it and during its rotary movement friction occurs between the bolt head and cartridge base.

There is a tendency for the cartridge in rotating to turn with it the cartridge against whose base it is pressed and thus to screw the cartridge case into any slight irregularities existing in the powder chamber or on the" breech closure face. These factors render more difiicult the extraction of the empty case and the-movement of the breech closure both in looking and unlocking. When the gun is heated by repeated or continued firing the differing variations in size of the several parts caused by the expansion due to the heat, materially increases the friction between the parts.

The head of the breech closure receives the rearward force due to the explosion of the propelling charge and in high powered rifles this powder pressure reaches many thousands of pounds to the square inch.

In arms of the automatic or semi-automatic types the breech closures usually begin to open before the powder pressure in the chamber has been entirely relieved and in this case the friction between the head of the bolt and the base of the cartridge is to press the cartridge case into intimate engagement with the chamber walls and thus to restrain it against rotation.

All of these several factors causing frict1on between the parts combine to slow up the breech action,'to cause it to require more power and 1n extreme cases to cause it to stick or jam.

It is an object of my invention to provide a bear1ng adapted for use in connection with thebolt of a gun which will minimize the frictlon due to either translatory or ro tary movement or both such movements. It 1s an ob ect to provide in connection with such a bearing, thrust bearing means adapted to take up thethrusts due to discharge of the piece and to eliminate friction between the cartridge case and the bolt head. It is an object to provide anti-friction means of the character described which are adapted for use wlth various types of bolts and fir- 111g mechanisms. It is also an object to provide a device which is simple 1n constructlon and positive in its action, which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and WhlCll may be readily assembled with the gun structure. 'Other and further objects Wlll appear as the description proceeds.

I have illustrated certain preferred embodiments of my invention in the accompanymg drawings in which- Ifigure 1 is a fragmentary view in longitudinal section illustrating the breech mechamsm of a gun provided with my improved antr-friction device;

Flg. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing a bolt head fitted with my device; Flg. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showmg a different type of bolt head; and

Fig. 4 is a cross section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

I have shown certain portions of a gun in order to illustrate the application of my device but the gun itself forms no part of the present invention. The gun as shown in Fig. 1 and in part in Figs. 2 and 4, comprises the barrel 5, receiver 6, bolt 7, firing pin 8 and magazine 9. The bolt 7 is of the rotary lock type and is provided with lugs 10 adapted to be turned to coact with lugs 11 on the lock sleeve 12.

In accordance with my invention as shown in detail in Figs. 2 and 4, the bolt is centrally drilled and internally threaded at 13 to receive the hollow stud 14. The outer Specification of Letters Patent. Pate t d J 11, 1921.

portion of the end of the bolt proper is beveled as shown at 15. The stud 14 is formed with the central opening 16, the forward portion of which is tapered at 17 to fit the forward end of the firing pin 8. The stud is formed with the head 18 which provides the shoulder 19 adapted to retain the an nular bolt head 20 in place on the stud.

' The remainderlof the counter-sunk cavity in -may be provided with the lug is filled by the plug or face plate 21'.

the bolt head is filled by the face plate 21 whichis provided with the central opening 22 in continuation of the opening 17 The head 18 on the stud 14 is of such diameter as not to contact with the head 20 and is of such thickness as to permit a small amount of play after the face plate 21 is screwed in ace. p The rear face of 'theannularbolt head 20 is beveled at 23 opposite to the bevel 15 and the bearing ring 24 is fitted into the annular channel formed between the beveled surfaces. This bearing ring comprises the outer and inner cage elements 25 and ,26

with the conical rollers 27 held therebetween.

The inner ends of the rollers are provided with ball seats into which are fitted the balls 28, a portion of their surface projecting through the cage element 25 and adapted to contact with the stud 14. The outer ends of the rollers are similarly provided with the balls 29 for contact with the receiver or other element through which the bolt may pass. The bolt head, if desired, 29 which moves in'a slot 30 in the receiver 6 and thus restrains the headagainst rotary movement.

The form of my device shown in Fig. 3 is fundamentally the same as that which has just been described.

The head of the bolt proper 7 receives the stud 14 which here is solid and has the the head 18 engaging the recess in the rotary head 20. The remainder of the recess This plug and the head are formed with co6perating recesses adapted to receive the bell crank firing pin 31 which is pivoted at 32 to the head. The outer end of the firing pin rides in the recess 30 in the receiver wall. 'This recess increases in depth adjacent the forward position of the bolt to permit the pin to be moved to firing position by contact with the endof the groove. The opposed faces of the bolt and head have fitted between them a bearing ring identical in construction with that shown in the form of Figs. 1, 2 and 4. This ring may differ slightly in dimensions since here the stud need not be made as large in diameter as it need not be hollow to permit the firing pin to pass through it.

In my construction the inner row of balls serve to give the bearing assembly a rolling bearing on the stud, the conical rollers afl'or'd a roller bearing to take up the closing thrust its translatory motion in opening between the bolt and bolt head and the heavy discharge thrust between the same parts, and the outer row of balls serve as a ball bearing to support the bolt during both and closthe bolt The roll ing and during the rotation o proper in the locking movement.

ers minimize friction Between the bolt and bolt head when the former is rotated in looking, and since the latter remains'stationary no friction is caused between ,the cartridge case andbolt head.

guide lug 29 may be omitted if desired and i the head permitted to rotate freelyom-the bolt.

I claim:

1.. In a gun, a receiver, a bolt operating therein, said bolt having a rotary portion, and a roller bearing interposed between said portion and receiver adapted to minimize friction during relative rotation between the parts. I

2. In a gun, a receiver, a bolt operating therein, said bolt having a rotary portion, a rolling bearing carried by said bolt and adapted to minimize friction between said receiver and said rotary portion of the bolt during either rotary or reciprocatory movement of the rotary portion of the bolt rela- 1 tively to the receiver.

3. In a gun, a receiver, a bolt reciprocable therein, a ball bearing ring carried by said bolt, said ring carrying ball bearings adapted to bear against the receiver to minimize friction between the two members during reciprocation of the bolt.

4} In a gun, a receiver, a the receiver, at least a-portion of the breech closure being rotatable, and a rolling bearing interposed between said portion and the receiver for reducing the friction therebetween.

5. In a gun, a receiver, a bolt in the receiver, sa id bolt having both rotary and reciprocatory movement in the receiver, and a rolling bearing interposed between the receiver and the bolt to produce a rolling hearing when the bolt rotates and also to produce a rolling bearing when the bolt reciprocates.

6. In a gun, a receiver, a bolt in the receiver, said bolt having a reciprocatory movement in the receiver, and a rolling bearing having rollin elements on a plurality of sides of sai bolt for facilitating said reciprocatory movement in any positio of the gun. a

7. In a gun, a receiver, a bolt reciprocatably disposed in the receiver, the bolt having a rotary portion,.and .a rolling bearing associated with said rotary portion to breech closure in 55 bolt between opposing ends of the two porproduce a rolling bearing when said portion rotates and also to produce a rolling bearing when the bolt reciprocates.

8. In a gun, a receiver, a bolt in the receiver, said bolt having both reciprocatoryand rotary movements, and a rolling bearing having rolling elements arranged on a plurality of sides of said bolt to facilitate each of said movements in any position of the gun.

.9. In a gun, a receiver, a bolt comprising two portions, one of said portions being adapted to receive the explosive thrust from a cartridge in the gun and a rolling bearing adapted to transmit the thrust from the first to the second portion.

'10. In a gun, a receiver, a bolt comprising two portions, one of said portions being adapted to receive the explosive thrust from a cartridgein the gun, and a'bearing consisting of a circular series of rollers adapted to permit relative rotary movement between the two parts and to transmit the thrust from the first to the second portion.

11. In a gun, a receiver, abolt comprising two portions and a bearing located therebetween and comprising one series of elements adapted to reduce friction between said portions and a second series of elements. adapted to reduce friction between the bolt and the receiver.

12. In a gun, a receiver, a bolt comprising two portions, a member connecting said portions and a bearing assembly located therebetween and surrounding said mem-' ber, the bearing comprising one series of elements adapted to reduce friction between .tween the bearing assembly and the connecting member.

14. In a gun, a bolt comprising two portions adapted for relative rotary movement and a roller thrust bearing carried by said tions.

15. In a gun, a receiver, a bolt compris-.

ing two portions adapted for relativerotary movement 'and a roller thrust bearing carried by said bolt between the two portions, and balls carried by the outer ends of said rollers and adapted to minimize friction be-, tween the bolt and the receiver.

16. In a gun, a bolt comprising two portions adapted for relative rotary movement, a member connecting said portions, a' bearing assembly surrounding said member and comprising inner and outer cage elements a member connecting said' portions, a bear- 1 ing assembly surrounding said member and .comprising inner and outer cage elements with a series of conical rollers located therebetween, and two series of balls, one set projecting outward through the outer cage element and the other set projecting inward throu h the inner cage element, two sets of balls %eing seated in the ends of the rollers.

18. In a gun, a receiver, a bolt comprising two portions adapted for relative rotary movement, a member connecting said portions, a bearing assembly surrounding said member and comprising inner and outer cage elements with a series of conical rollers located therebetween, and two series of balls,

.one set projecting outward through the outer cage element and the other set projecting inward through the inner cage element, the rollers minimizing the friction during relative movement between the two portions of the bolt, the inner set of balls bearing on the connecting member, and the outer set of balls bein adapted to minimize friction between the during both the rotation and the translation of the bolt.

19. In agun, a receiver, a bolt comprising two portions adapted for relative rotary movement, a member connecting said portions, a bearing assembly surrounding said member and comprising inner and outer cage elements with a series of conical rollers located therebetween, and two sets of balls, one set projecting outward through the outer cage element and the other set projecting inward through the inner cage element, the two sets of balls being seated in the ends of the rollers, the rollers minimizing the friction during relative movement between the two portions of the bolt, the" inner set @f balls bearing on the connecting member, and the outer set of balls being adapted to minimize friction between. the bolt and the receiver during both the rotation and the olt and the receiver translation .of the bolt, and to take up the outward thrust of the rollers due to the endwise thrust on the bolt.

. Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts, this twenty-eighth day of April, 1920.

JOHN QTALIAFERIRO THOMPSON. 

